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The Free Agent Gamble:

"You could take a stat of every high-scoring free agent that signed with another team and what he did in the first year there, and I guarantee you, it's not very good. And the only reason it's not very good is because it's very hard in a short period of time for players to make an emotional connection to the team."

"We saw that with (Brett) Hull and [Pat] Verbeek in Dallas. They didn't have the season they had the year before but in the second year they were connected. You're expecting Robert Lang or Jagr and those players to step right in, but it's difficult. Everything is new to them -- the way you practice and train, the way the coaches talk between periods. Everything is foreign. And scoring players -- it's different if the guy is a role player -- have to feel comfortable. And if you don't feel comfortable then you're not emotionally connected, and that takes time."

- Philadelphia Flyers' coach Ken Hitchcock. (Washington Post)